


Close Your Eyes (On This Empty Road)

by elutherya



Category: ATEEZ (Band)
Genre: Beach Holidays, Fluff, Future Fic, Getting Together, M/M, Road Trips, cawllection
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-14
Updated: 2019-08-14
Packaged: 2020-07-29 15:34:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,234
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20084572
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/elutherya/pseuds/elutherya
Summary: Sometimes finding the right words isn't all that important.





	Close Your Eyes (On This Empty Road)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [CosmicallyLyss](https://archiveofourown.org/users/CosmicallyLyss/gifts).

> This was written for the @ateezexchange summer promises fic exchange, the prompt was: Stargazing at the beach and road trip with friends. 
> 
> This sure was a time. It's definitely not the kind of thing I'm used to writing, but I'm okay with that. I like experimenting and trying new things. This one is for you, Lyss. You're an absolute treasure and I was thrilled to see a familiar name when I got the person I would be writing for. I hope that you like it! Sending all my love to you, my dear!
> 
> Lumi and I are going to CAW jail for posting, but at least we’re going down together.

Wooyoung lulls his head to the side, eyes falling to where Jongho is gripping the steering wheel. He looks up, catches the way Jongho’s hair has been tousled from when they’d had the car windows rolled down earlier. Jongho’s not paying attention to anything outside of the road in front of him and doesn’t even seem to notice the way Wooyoung’s watching him.

Reaching out, Wooyoung turns the radio down low and it’s finally enough for Jongho to glance his way.

“Hey.”

“We’re almost there,” Jongho says quickly. Wooyoung rolls his eyes, fingers tugging at the hem of his shirt. 

It’s quiet for a few moments, outside of the soft song filtering out from the speakers. He doesn’t recognize it, but it’s pretty, whatever it is. “That’s not what I was going to ask.”

“Sure you weren’t. If that’s not what you were going to ask, than what were you going to say?” There’s a smile tugging at Jongho’s lips and it’s enough for Wooyoung to know that he’s not annoyed. His fingers tap in time to the song against the steering wheel and Wooyoung can hear him humming under his breath.

“I was going to say thanks for driving, but since you’re being such a brat.” Wooyoung reaches out and jabs a finger into his side. Jongho yelps, reaching out to slap at him as he keeps his eyes on the road.

“I don’t mind,” Jongho finally says after a moment, voice soft. He stops tapping his fingers against the wheel, tilts his head just the tiniest bit and Wooyoung feels whatever joke he’d been about to blurt out die on his tongue. There’s a pause, before Jongho continues, glancing quickly in his direction. “I know we don’t do it often, but I like spending time with you.”

“Even if you’re loud,” he tacks on. It’s enough for Wooyoung to finally sit up in his seat with a squawk of indignation. Jongho laughs and it fills the car. Wooyoung stills for a moment, before he’s laughing alongside him.

“You’d be bored if I didn’t come with you.”

“Mingi hyung would have kept me company,” Jongho grins.

“Right, because you would have wanted Yunho and him both being disgustingly cute together while you were stuck driving them.” Wooyoung snorts, watching the way Jongho cringes at the idea. He falls back in his seat, voice lilting in victory as he continues. “Admit it, I was your first pick for people to drive with.”

He shoots him another look, this one softer than any of the previous ones, before Jongho’s looking back towards the road. He bites his bottom lip, taps his fingers against the wheel again. He gives a small nod of his head, “Yeah, you were.”

“Oh,” Wooyoung finds himself at a loss. Usually pulling admissions like that from Jongho is like pulling teeth, but this one, he gave so willingly. He looks out the window, tries to ignore the way he can feel Jongho shooting him another glance. “That’s good, because I’ve missed doing things, just the two of us.”

It has been a while, with how busy they’ve all been over the last few months. The only person Wooyoung really spends time alone with is Yeosang and it’s because they’re roommates. The eight of them, they’re always working, and when they do get breaks, they try to spend it all together, the eight of them.

“I know, hyung.”

  


* * *

  
“You two are late,” San greets, digging his elbow in between Wooyoung’s ribs. It’s enough to have him almost dropping the cooler in his hands, but Yeosang is there, taking it from him before he can. San seems unphased by the look Yeosang shoots him, instead glancing behind Wooyoung to look to where Jongho is unloading a pile of blankets from the car.

“We made a stop at the gas station for ice,” Wooyoung snorts, reaching up to dig his hand into San’s hair and push him away. Rolling his eyes, San starts back up the beach, following in the footsteps Yeosang had left as he walked back to where the group had setup. It’s not hard to see the others, even from the edges of the parking lot. Even from here, Wooyoung can see the bright flash of Hongjoong’s red hair. He can see him flailing as Mingi and Yunho pick him up and carry him to the edges of the water, even if he can’t hear the way he’s probably laughing and shouting for them to put him down.

“Stopped for ice. So what you’re really saying is that you didn’t use the alone time you two had to confess that you’ve had a big gross crush on him for months because you got nervous?” Where the words should sound judgemental, Wooyoung knows San well enough to know it’s more a statement of fact.

“That’s exactly what I’m saying.”

“You’re so gay, Wooyoung.”

“I know,” he sighs, glancing over his shoulder to see Jongho trailing along after them, sunglasses perched carefully on his nose and face upturned to the sky. “That’s the problem.”

San pats him gently on the shoulder, before he picks up his pace and jogs off after Yeosang. It gives Wooyoung the space to slow down, to wait for Jongho to catch up to him with a grin.

“He giving you crap for us being late?” Jongho asks as soon as he catches up, shoving the pile of blankets into Wooyoung’s arms.

“Yup.”

“Mhm and what did you tell him?” With his sunglasses, Wooyoung can’t completely make out what Jongho’s thinking, but the amused curl of his lips is more than enough for him to know where this is going.

“That we stopped for ice.”

“Yeah, is that all you told him?” Jongho prods, bumping his shoulder into him as they walk. 

“Yes.”

“You didn’t tell him that stopping for ice took a minute and that what really made us late was that we couldn’t go into the store until the song on the radio finished playing? Or that we then had to listen to another full song after that?”

“You can’t just stop listening to a song halfway through, that’s just rude to the song. Also, it was Spring Day. We had to stay and listen to Spring Day. You can’t just not listen to it when it starts playing.” Wooyoung kicks out his foot to knock it against the back of Jongho’s leg, but he bounces out of the way, already expecting it.

Jongho opens his mouth to say something else, but he’s cut off by the howl of Mingi’s laughter as he races across the beach past them. Hongjoong is right behind him, the two of them kicking up sand as they run across the beach, Hongjoong dripping wet.

Whatever he was going to say is lost as they watch the way Mingi falls into the water as Hongjoong calls him a brat from the edge. Jongho nudges him one last time, before jogging the rest of the way over to their group.

  


* * *

  
There hadn’t been much of a plan, outside of coming to the beach. It had been Hongjoong who had brought it up, when the credits to the movie they’d been watching were rolling and none of them made any move to find the remote. He’d thrown in “team bonding” as if they needed an excuse to say yes to the idea of a short vacation.

A break, where they didn’t have to worry, was a long time coming. It was something they could see they needed in the bags under Seonghwa’s eyes and the way Mingi would crawl into bed the minute they got back to their dorm to sleep.

It’s hard though, turning it all off once he’s there. His thoughts feel like they’re running in circles and he can’t seem to nail them down. He’s been stuck on his feelings for Jongho for months and the break has just brought them to the forefront. Without work, it’s all he can seem to focus on.

Even now, flopped down on a towel under the umbrellas, he can’t take his eyes off the way Jongho and Mingi are hurling water at each other. Their voices carry across the beach and even if he can’t make out what they’re saying, it’s enough just to hear the happiness that seems to be lining their voices.

It should be easy to find the right thing to say, but everything that wants to come out of his mouth never feels like it would be enough. He knows that the worry sitting in the pit of his stomach is irrational, that he has San and Yeosang’s support, but something stops him every time.

He sighs, buries his face into his arms and kicks his feet out into the warm sand underneath him.

It doesn’t help that he could have said it during the car ride up. He could have blurted it out and spent the rest of the day just relieved to have it out in the open.

“Stop moping. You have about forty seconds to run.” Yeosang hums and Wooyoung turns his head enough to look at him. He’s stretched out on another towel, his hair pushed back from his face with a headband. He’s eating his way through an orange and it’s the first thing he’s said in the thirty minutes that they’ve been lounging on the beach.

“What?”

“You took too long,” Yeosang sings, licking the juice from his fingers and it’s all the warning he gets, before a drenched Yunho is dropping down onto his back.

“You’re being boring,” Yunho says.

Yeosang nods sagely in agreement.

“I’m not being boring! I’m relaxing!” 

Yeosang shakes his head slowly.

A scream of noise escapes him as Yunho presses his fingers into his side and Wooyoung is helpless to do anything but try and crawl out from under him. He squirms, catches sight of Yeosang biting at another orange slice and knows he’s not going to be any help. He hiccups on a laugh, digs his fingers into the sand and tries to throw Yunho off of his back, but all it does is draw the attention of the others.

“We throwing Woo in?” Mingi calls, dragging Jongho back to shore with him.

Wooyoung doesn’t need to look over his shoulder to see that Yunho is smiling, “Yup!”

“No!” The word comes out strangled on a laugh as Yunho digs his arms under him to lift him up from the towel. He kicks out his legs, but as soon as Jongho and Mingi are there, he knows he doesn’t stand a chance.

  


* * *

  
“We’ll do the fire tomorrow,” Seonghwa says as he pulls the sandwiches he’s made out of the cooler. He passes one to Yeosang, another to Jongho, before finally handing one over to Wooyoung. He reaches up to adjust the umbrella over them and watches where the rest of their group is still out paddling in the water. “They’re going to be too tired to do it tonight.”

Yeosang makes a noise of acknowledgement, nodding his head as he chews around the food in his mouth. Seonghwa shakes his head, before reaching out to wipe at the corner of his mouth. A small pleased smile spreads across Yeosang’s face at the gesture.

“We’ll do the fireworks tomorrow as well, right?” Seonghwa turns, looking over to where Jongho is. The expression on Jongho’s face is hopeful and it’s only matched by the fondness on Seonghwa’s. Wooyoung barely catches Seonghwa’s response in the positive, too busy watching the way joy spreads across Jongho’s face. His smile is all teeth and something in Wooyoung’s stomach flips at the knowledge that he’s comfortable enough around them to not feel insecure with his smiles anymore.

A piece of lettuce catches him across the side of his face and Wooyoung jerks his attention to where Yeosang is sitting beside him. He chews slowly on his sandwich, expression carefully blank.

“What?”

“You’re staring,” Yeosang shrugs, before taking another bite. Wooyoung picks up the limp piece of lettuce and throws it back at him, but Yeosang shifts out of the way easily enough. “We’re not doing the fire tonight, but it would be a shame to waste tonight when there’s supposed to be clear skies.”

Wooyoung stares at him silently, adjusts the towel he has wrapped around himself, before he finally lifts his sandwich up to take a bite. Yeosang nods and shrugs his shoulder. They both twist back in their chairs to watch Seonghwa and Jongho dig around in the cooler for something to drink and something in Wooyoung settles.

  


* * *

  
“Jongho-ah,” Wooyoung whispers, poking at Jongho’s side. He rolls over, swatting at Wooyoung’s hand, but cracks an eye open regardless. Wooyoung folds his hands on the edge of the mattress, before resting his chin on them. He smiles, stomach twisting at the way Jongho’s lips quirk up gently as he waits for whatever Wooyoung has to say to him. “Get up, I want to show you something.”

It’s all the prodding Jongho needs. He makes a show of groaning and burying his face into the pillow, but it only lasts a few moments, before he’s pushing himself up from the blankets he’s wrapped himself in. As soon as his feet touch down on the carpeted floor, Wooyoung’s taking his hand and leading him past the beds where Yeosang and San are sprawled out on.

Wooyoung slips into his sandals, not letting go of Jongho’s hand as he does the same. He double checks his pocket for their room key, before quietly opening the door and pulling Jongho with him. As soon as the door clicks shut behind them, he’s running.

“Hyung,” it comes out exasperated, but within moments, Jongho’s breathless laughter follows them as they sprint across the parking lot. The moon is nearly full and it’s enough to light the way as they run. He doesn’t slow until their feet are sinking into sand, doesn’t slow until he can feel the waves of the ocean wrapping around his ankles.

Wooyoung drops Jongho’s hand and wraps his arms around his waist.

“Hyung!” This time, Jongho’s voice comes out in a loud yell as Wooyoung twists them to the side and drags him down into the water with him. It’s not deep, but it’s cold without the heat of the sun and Jongho tries to scramble out of Wooyoung’s hold. Wooyoung just tightens his arms around him. “Hyung, fuck, let me go. It’s freezing!”

Wooyoung sits up, pulling Jongho with him, the water lapping at their waists. Jongho’s expression is a mix of emotion and Wooyoung knows he’s seconds away from pushing him away to go back to their motel room. He wouldn’t be wrong for it, because it is cold, but there’s still something sitting on the edge of Wooyoung’s tongue that he just doesn’t know how to say.

Instead, he lifts one of his hands, ignores the way he can see it trembling and tilts Jongho’s face up with a gentle press of his fingers.

There’s a moment where annoyance flashes across Jongho’s face, before Wooyoung sees his mouth drop open. He swallows, taking in the way Jongho goes so utterly still and how the moonlight highlights the pure wonder that spreads across his face. He’s beautiful, even with water dripping from his hair and his sleep clothes sticking to his skin.

Wooyoung doesn’t look up to see the stars littering the sky, because he doesn’t think they’ll ever compare to how Jongho looks as he sees them for the first time.

It’s easier than saying the words. The words he’s been trying to figure out for months, the words he’s been trying to say since they started driving here together.

It’s easier, because when Jongho tilts his face back down, the smile on his face says that he understands.

  


* * *

  
By the time they make it back to their room, they’re both shivering. It takes Wooyoung two attempts to get the cardkey out of his pocket and another four to actually get the door open. Jongho is giggling beside him, even as his teeth chatter.

“We could have seen the stars without getting wet,” he whispers, rubbing his hands up and down his arms in an attempt to warm up. The light on the door blinks red. Wooyoung slips the card back in and tries again.

“I know,” his voice comes out on a whine that has Jongho giggling louder. “It seemed romantic at the time.”

The light on the door blinks green and Wooyoung finally pushes the door open. As soon as it clicks shut behind them, Jongho grabs him by the hand, tugging him off into the bathroom. There’s a soft noise from San, but he rolls over and Wooyoung knows that they haven’t woken up either of the boys in their shared room.

He pushes Wooyoung back against the counter, before closing the door quietly behind them and turning on the light. He hooks his fingers into the hem of his shirt before pulling it up and over his head and quickly shimmies out of his pants. “Stop staring. You’re going to get sick if you don’t get out of your wet clothes.”

“Right,” Wooyoung breathes, still focused on the flex of the muscles in Jongho’s back as he pads over to the shower in his boxers.

With Jongho’s back to him, it’s easier to peel off his shirt and pants, to throw them down into a pile with Jongho’s clothes. It’s only as he’s stepping up to the shower to stand beside Jongho as he adjusts the water that he realizes the shaking in his hands isn’t only from the cold.

“Alright, it shouldn’t be too hot,” Jongho murmurs before crawling into the shower. He sighs once he’s under the spray and that’s all it takes for Wooyoung to climb in after him.

It’s quiet as they stand there, Jongho sagging under the water. Wooyoung finds himself at a loss, can’t seem to do anything but watch Jongho wash off the sand and chill.

“You never actually said it,” Jongho’s the one to break the silence after what feels like hours, but rationally Wooyoung knows is only minutes.

“Never said what?” The question breaks and Wooyoung twists his hands together to hide the way they’re trembling.

“That you like me.”

“Didn’t I?”

“No, you didn’t.” Jongho smiles and it’s the same soft little one he’d given him in the car as they’d driven up to the beach. He steps forward, removing the last bit of space that had been between them. “I think I can forgive you for that though, because I kind of really like you and I’m tired of waiting for you to catch up.”

Wooyoung opens his mouth to say something, anything, but the words catch in his throat. Jongho laughs, fingers winding around his, holding tight to stop them from shaking, and leans into his space.

When Jongho kisses him, it’s nothing earth shattering. It’s warm and a barely there graze of their lips, but it’s enough to have the worry that’s been sitting in Wooyoung’s chest unfurling.

Laughing, Wooyoung shakes his hands free of Jongho’s, reaching up to cup his face between them, before leaning in to kiss him again. He thinks, in that moment, that not being able to find the words wasn’t all that bad, not when Jongho meets him halfway.

**Author's Note:**

> Mags drew art for this fic and it's very pretty! Please give them and it some love! [ Here](https://twitter.com/noiryunho/status/1188563296703696896?s=21).
> 
> If you want to come talk to me about these boys, possible prompts or just... anything at all: you can find me over at [twitter](https://twitter.com/Elesteria). I'm always down to chat at new people! You can also find me at [curiouscat](https://t.co/1yfgiUBE0r) if you have any thoughts, prompts or stuff that you're too nervous to say in public.


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